Belgian GP Saturday Minardi Notes

LUCA BADOER "I am not too much satisfied, I hoped in a better position on the grid. We expected the Belgian track to be more suitable to our car but this qualifying session turned out harder than I thought, indeed.

MARC GENE "I tried to do my best. I like the track more and more. For sure, this qualifying session was not too good. The car was not easy to handle on new tyres, but I believe that the race will be better, as a matter of fact, our car's set up is proving better on used tyres. For me, however, driving on this track is definitely a good experience."

GIAN CARLO MINARDI It is clear that we expected more from this day although we improved our performances compared to last year while it is not the same for the other teams, to me that means a good step forward from our side. Of course, it is a shame to be always at the back of the grid. Both drivers did a good job and we hope it will be better for tomorrow's race."

GUSTAV BRUNNER - Technical Director : The cars are not bad here at Spa. The gap with the pole position is less compared with last year, when we had a gap of seven seconds, while now we have only a little bit more than 3 seconds' gap. Marc Gene did a very good job beating the other new comer on a similar car, Pedro De La Rosa, if only by a few hundredths but he did it, Luca is very close to Takagi. He hoped to be in front of him but his lap time is nevertheless not bad. Unfortunately it was a session with a lot of interruptions, which didn't help the confidence of the drivers. But it was the same for everybody."